I was thinking about Queen since yesterday was Freddie Mercury's Bday and was wondering what was the general consensus among prog enthusiasts regarding Queen? I for one have always been a pretty big fan of Queen especially their early material from their self titled debut album right on up to The Game and even some of the later pop hits on Its a Kind of Magic, Innuendo, The Miracle etc. My argument would be their lyricism obviously especially on Queen and Queen II dealing with many of the same themes as some of their contemporary Prog acts ie: fantasy, romanticism etc...Their groundbreaking use of intensely over-dubbed choruses and whatnot also was progressive in its use of studio technology much in the same way other groups were stretching the recording process and pushing the bounds of the technology of the day. And of course the stunning musicianship of Brian May, thunderous drumming of Roger Taylor, the quiet dependable and precise playing of John Deacon (one of the great underappreciated bassists IMO), and the sheer magnetic stage presence of Freddie Mercury arguably one of the greatest singers and performers of all time. I understand their commercial success and radio hit leanings might be a turnoff for many of you so I was curious as to everyones thoughts. I absolutely adore them to be honest. How about you?

Interesting postscript: I am a graduate of an Audio Engineering program with a focus in studio/music production and actually got my hands on a few pro tools files of a few Queen master tracks and its really amazing to see how many vocal over dubs recorded in different ways go into creating the well known Queen sound. Most of Brian Mays guitar sounds alone are composed of like 2-3 amplifiers recorded simultaneously with an additional 3-4 room mics and stereo delays. Given the nature of analog recording and the limitations of mixing consoles this was pretty revolutionary for its day.

Much like you I'm a big Queen fan up to Jazz. The Game had some good songs but marked the biggest change in their career and I don't care much for anything else after that.

Queen II is my favourite but I also love the debut, Sheer Heart Attack, At The Opera and At The Races (and Live Killers is a stunning live double, too bad they didn't release any proper live album earlier, which BTW it's something I have always been surprised about, since live albums were very popular at the time and Queen were more than famous enough to afford releasing one).

They do not belong to the standard definition of prog but they certainly fit in my open-minded definition!

It's the overdubbing..... they did sh*t loads of it, probably more than any other band in the world. Queen II is just drenched in thick vocal harmonies that sound like 100+ vocalists, they're splattered everywhere, in all corners of that album. And this continues into songs like Somebody to Love, Bicycle Race, and of course, Bohemian Rhapsody.

It's not to everyone's taste, but it was certainly progressive (particularly if you listen in quadrophonic.... it's like having four choirs screaming at you from different directions, in a good way!)

I liked and found Queen to be a very progressive band, up until "A Day At The Races". After that, some magic was lost, at least for me, and I lost interest in their music. I think they are all fantastic musicians and composers, but they took a more commercial approach after a great, promising beginning.

I liked and found Queen to be a very progressive band, up until "A Day At The Races". After that, some magic was lost, at least for me, and I lost interest in their music. I think they are all fantastic musicians and composers, but they took a more commercial approach after a great, promising beginning.

Same here. "A Day At the Races" was big big disappointment. After that, there were moments of glory, but no really good albums.

I wasnt aware that Queen II was released in the quadrophonic format. That is interesting to me.

It may not have been officially..... but my brother's car stereo system separates audio into right and left and front and back, and while some albums still sounded just stereo, Queen II definitely had vocals and guitar parts coming out of all four areas independently.

It was the latest CD remaster (2011), with bonus tracks. Perhaps that is a quadrophonic mix, or surround mix.

Definetly proto prog with debut through a day at the races. Queen 2 is my personal favorite, a lot of tempo and stylistic changes in march of the black queen. And though its a bit of a tangent, I love bohemian rhapsody but find Prophets Song to be A night at the opera's best track, pure epic grandoisity!!

" Men are not prisoners of fate, but prisoners of their own minds." - FDR

Definetly proto prog with debut through a day at the races. Queen 2 is my personal favorite, a lot of tempo and stylistic changes in march of the black queen. And though its a bit of a tangent, I love bohemian rhapsody but find Prophets Song to be A night at the opera's best track, pure epic grandoisity!!

I think its pretty hard to find any band that put an album out without at least one "rubbish" song or "fillers". I dont see why Queen should be singled out as being less than a stellar band given their massive output throughout the duration of their career and the amount of great songs they wrote as a whole. Just because they wrote a few songs that werent up to snuff hardly demeans them.

"Deep in the human unconscious is a pervasive need for a logical universe that makes sense. But the real universe is always one step beyond logic."

Just because a band is original and talented doesn't immediately make the Prog Rock. They were progressive yes. I guess they can be prog related (they already are aren't they?). But cmon. They were a great rock band. That's it

'Innuendo' and 'Was It All Worth It?' were two 'later' proggy tracks. Also, the 20 minute 'drone' that closes the 'Made In Heaven' album is wonderful but very sad. Remnants of a life but nothing remains.

In general, I think Queen had 'progressive' in their musical arsenal but chose in later years not to pursue it.

Just because a band is original and talented doesn't immediately make the Prog Rock. They were progressive yes. I guess they can be prog related (they already are aren't they?). But cmon. They were a great rock band. That's it

My thoughts exactly. We're sometime guilty of acting like an over zealous border patrol here on PA (and insist that everyone entering is subjected to a full cavity body search for Prog credentials)

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